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ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF THE INTERNATIONAL GOODS WAGON AGREEMENTS

At a time when investment capital is scarce and expensive, it is a particularly important task of management to try and insure that the investments not only pay for themselves but also, in addition, contribute towards the financial success of the undertaking. It is not always the case that the distribution of cost and revenue over the railways taking part in international traffic meets this requirement. It is true that the railway administrations continually try to achieve, through the international goods wagon agreements, an equitable compensation for the stand-by costs of the wagons. The contribution of the investments in goods wagons towards the financial success of the owning administration is, however, confined to the compensation in kind which can be achieved in terms of wagon-days. In view of the notorious imbalance in international traffic flows, such a compensation is, to a large extent, impracticable. This applies, in particular, to railways in centrally situated countries with heavy export traffic. From this economic point of view, the paper deals with the existing international goods wagon agreements and with the present projects for the extension of the West European wagon pool.